Garden of Shadows

by Tinalynge

  Xue Wei had since discovering their cultivation system suspected that there would be others who were eager to break into the Ordinary Knight rank, and he had concocted many pills to use in exchange for information or merit points.

  In their last full-party meeting, Xue Wei had handed these pills to Hei Gou and Lin Xiao to be used as bargaining chips when the two of them were out snooping for information.

  And now it was already possible to gain something without even having to pull the classic power move with a show of strength to impress and befriend them. They had already become the subject of everyone’s attention.

  “I can help you,” Lin Xiao spoke slowly, pronouncing each word clearly. He looked at the many people that were staring at him and noticed how they all lit up with glee.

  “My comrade Xue Wei is a dual cultivator of both Qi and spiritual energy. He is also a formation master and an alchemist. We come from outside of your continent, from a continent where the majority cultivates Qi, and thus we have many pills which can help you break through to the Ordinary Knight rank.

  “Xue Wei already gave me a few of these pills, but I need you to do something for me in return.”

  The truth was that he actually had enough pills to supply the entire student body, but Lin Xiao had no intention of telling them this. By telling them all that he only had a few, they would definitely do their utmost to satisfy his demands. On the other hand, if he were to act generously, it was likely they would only do a halfhearted job.

  Just as he had expected, the moment the others heard his words, all of them were eagerly crowding around him.

  “What do you need from us?” one of them asked curiously, lightly licking his lips while imagining himself becoming an Ordinary Knight.

  “Information!” Lin Xiao grinned. “We are very new to this academy, and even the continent. We know nothing about this place, so we would like to know all the information that you might have.”

  “That is it?” Shen Longyue looked at him skeptically. “You will give us a pill that makes us break through into the Ordinary Knight rank as long as we can provide you with information that you deem useful?”

  “It’s true,” Lin Xiao replied and nodded his head seriously. “I will not lie. If you tell us something that is useful to us, then we will gift you a pill.”

  The many experts looked at one another as if it was too good a deal to be true. No one wanted to be the first to speak because they were afraid of being tricked, but after some time went by, Shen Longyue stepped up to Lin Xiao and smiled. “What kind of information do you want?” he inquired.

  “I am interested in anything, but I mainly want to know how there can be so much soul power around here.”

  Lin Xiao had wanted to add a question about missing people and massacres, but he stopped himself in time. If he had asked this question right after asking about the oversaturation of soul power in the air, then the implication behind the initial question would be obvious, and as students of the academy, they would without a doubt feel insulted.

  Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were here to make friends, not to insult anyone, and as such he could only take it slowly and get some information one step at a time.

  “We are interested in any kind of information you might have,” Hei Gou piped up for once. It was the first thing he had said since their appearance and the others looked at him with narrowed eyes, trying to decipher if he had any authority to come with such a comment.

  Lin Xiao continued to smile and nodded his head. “We are indeed interested in everything,” he said, making all of the others smile and relax.

  “Well, in that case, let me go first,” Shen Longyue started without hesitation. “The Black Nebula Stone is the reason there is so much soul power in our surroundings. There is a spiritual vein under us, and the heart of the vein is in the Soul Tower, which gathers the soul power inside the floors for us to absorb as we want.

  “The rest of the academy is fueled by the Black Nebula Stones. They attract soul power from the surrounding air and concentrate it in one spot.

  “These stones and the vein are the reason for the dense soul power that is present within the Academy,” Shen Longyue smiled as if this was all there was to it, but Lin Xiao had already heard Bai Tianyi say that it was impossible for the vein and the Black Nebula Stones to produce as much soul power as was evident here.

  Unfortunately, it seemed that these students knew nothing more about it. All of them seemed to be of the impression that these stones and the vein were all that maintained the high levels of soul power.

  Noting that the students were unaware of anything behind the soul power, or even questioning it, Lin Xiao still smiled amiably and waved his hand, taking out a pill from his storage treasure and passed it to Shen Longyue.

  “Thank you for your information,” he said with a grin. “This is a pill specialized for Qi cultivators. It allows you to absorb the heaven and earth essence much faster and refine it at a higher rate than normal. Although it does not sound like much, it is exactly what you need to break through into the Ordinary Knight rank when you consider the fact that you have never taken Qi medication before.”

  Shen Longyue accepted the pill with shaking hands. His face had a massive grin spread across it, and he was all giddy as he rushed back from the training field back to his residence with excitement in his eyes.

  Seeing that Shen Longyue received one of those pills, the others’ eyes shone brightly. While they were apprehensive to share before, all of them rushed forward now.

  “I can tell you about the teachers of the academy,” one of them said, but before he had the time to begin, another cut in, claiming their story about a hidden expert in the academy was better.

  “No one wants to listen to the story about the hidden expert. It is just a legend, why not listen to my rumors about who is dating who?”

  “No, I think it is better to tell them concrete information like the Cloud Monument and the rankings of the students!”

  Like this everyone suddenly started yelling over each other and both Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were overwhelmed.

  “Okay, one at a time,” Lin Xiao laughed. “Queue up and tell us the stories one after another.”

  Although the experts were not eager to do so, they knew that Lin Xiao was the one who set the rules. He was the owner of the pills they desired, so all of them ended up doing exactly as he said.

  The first person who appeared told them about the teachers and elders of the academy. Although it was good to know about the elders and the teachers, Lin Xiao found no useful information in his story, but he still gifted him a medicinal pill.

  The next expert talked about the different factions in the academy, the main families who had created groups within the academy and about whom were neutral of the stronger experts. Although this did not help with the mystery, it was useful information nonetheless, so Lin Xiao gladly gifted him a pill.

  After him came a young expert who told them about the different places within the academy. There was the training field they were on already, but there were also the school buildings, the skill buildings for spiritual energy, and a desolate place for Qi techniques. There was the Cloud Monument, a place where one could see the ranking of all the students in the academy, and there were other places mentioned in the explanation, including the forbidden area that was placed in the east side of the academy.

  Lin Xiao was suddenly interested. He quickly gave him a pill and asked a few questions about the forbidden area, but the student knew nothing about it other than it being forbidden and that no one went there.

  Then came another expert, and his eyes were shining brightly. “I know about the forbidden area,” he grinned.

  Lin Xiao was immediately hooked. “What do you know?” he asked curiously. The young man looked around before he began telling them about the story of a legendary hidden expert.

  Chapter 13 - Legend

  “Long ago, when the continents were one great and unbroken land, there was
an expert at the apex of strength in the world.

  “No one knew where this expert came from, nor what her agenda was. She just appeared one day as if she had sprouted from the soil itself, and then she entered the Yan Tribe.

  “Back before the continents were separated, the Yan tribe was a tribe which contained all the multi-eyed experts, and their need for soul power was immense.

  “Her emergence was a mystery and remained unnoticed as she then managed to excavate the Black Nebula Stone mine and informed everyone about the use of the Black Nebula Stones and the heart of the mine that could produce soul power, while the stones themselves could attract and store soul power too.

  “This expert single-handedly built the Garden of Shadows and named the place. She also somehow made it possible for everyone to cultivate at a speed far surpassing the rate which they were accustomed to before.

  “From then on, the Garden of Shadows was almost as important as the King’s palace; it was a holy place where all the most renowned experts of the Yan Tribe would go to cultivate like never before.

  “Only those who went to the Garden of Shadows would have rapid improvements in their cultivation, and thus only the students of the Garden of Shadows would become prominent figures in society.

  “Suddenly, when the continents started to shift and the world began to shake, massive sword strikes and the dao of sword appeared everywhere, viciously tearing apart the entire world into multiple continents. The wind was furious and the oceans’ waves were so enormous and devastating—they sucked or swept away each broken piece of land far apart, leaving them to become their own continents.

  “As to what exactly was the reason behind the appearance of this sudden sword storm and the destruction of the continents, we never found out. Still, the sword-storm was the most destructive thing we’d ever seen, and some of the slashes landed devastatingly close to our tribe. Were it not for this expert then we would never have survived.

  “This is also why you can see the sea right next to our capital. The capital is the location of the original Yan tribe, but right next to it was the cut that separated this continent from the rest.

  “When we were separated, the esteemed expert managed to unite the entire continent under the rule of the Yan Tribe, and named it the ‘Yan Dalu.’

  “We owe this expert so much for what she did for us, but at one point she simply vanished. It is said that she began using her powers excessively, that she was growing tired and dissatisfied. As a result, she locked herself in isolated cultivation in what we now call the forbidden area.

  “Because she locked herself indoor and requested nobody disturb her cultivation, the area became a forbidden area. No one wished to interrupt her; no one wanted to cause her problems, so everyone stayed away.

  “This was thousands of years ago, none of us knows whether or not she survived all this time, if she secretly left as she had arrived or if she died. Only the Headmaster and a few of the highest ranked elders enter the forbidden area from time to time, but they never say anything, and we do not know if they go to pay their respects in front of the esteemed expert’s door, or if they just go to clean the area.”

  “I see.” Lin Xiao was in deep thought when he smiled at the man and handed him a pill. “That legend was quite informative,” he grinned.

  “It is just a legend,” one of the other experts said with indignance. If he had been just a bit faster, he would have been able to tell this legend—everyone within Yan Dalu knew this legend—but he lost the chance to get a pill because he did not think that someone would find this information useful.

  “Don’t worry.” Hei Gou understood his thoughts, and he spoke up again, something he had not done a lot, “we are still interested in plenty more things, so anyone who has something interesting to tell us should stay and exchange their information for pills.”

  Although they had gotten some interesting information about this forbidden area, and both of them felt that this legend had some curious implications, they could not let go of their source of information, nor could they let go of a chance to suddenly get more knowledge of this place.

  “I can tell you about missing people!” someone suddenly called out. Mentioning just the kind of information they sought most, both Lin Xiao and Hei Gou swung their heads around to look at the speaker, their eyes glistened, but their expressions remained the same as before.

  “Oh? People go missing?” Lin Xiao asked with feigned surprise and intrigue in his voice, “That can’t be good.”

  “It is not a big secret,” the person responded. He was slightly embarrassed because this was also known to all, but he was using it to exchange for a pill, so he gritted his teeth and muscled through.

  “Every day around ten people will vanish on the continent. There is no limit to who vanishes, it can be commoners with two eyes each, or it can even be experts with three or four eyes. The only ones who have never vanished are the five-eyed experts.

  “We don’t know where these ten experts vanish to, we have tried many different ways to examine this sudden disappearance but there are never any signs of fights, nor is there any messages left behind. They all seem to vanish into thin air, and they vanish from anywhere on the continent, so it is hard to say who is behind it.”

  Lin Xiao’s brows furrowed. If it was that the ten people vanished from the same place every day, or followed some sort of pattern by vanishing in certain locations on certain days, then it would not be so difficult to track, but if they vanished from anywhere and every day, then it could not be just one person behind it.

  If it was a big group of people who were behind the supposed kidnapping, then it could be explained, but then it was also extremely dangerous considering how many people had gone missing. The government definitely would have an idea as to what was happening, but it seemed as if they did not, or at least they did not share this information.

  Hei Gou was also deep in thought when he heard this. What made him most confused was the lack of fighting. One thing was that they vanished all over the continent, but the fact that they vanished without a trace was truly difficult to accomplish.

  Lin Xiao and Hei Gou both found this information quite useful, so they gave a pill to the person who had shared it.

  Lin Xiao and Hei Gou glanced at one another. They felt that their heads were almost exploding with information and were unsure of what exactly they should do now.

  They wanted to find Xue Wei right away and tell him about what they had heard, but the truth was that Xue Wei had entered the Soul Tower not long ago, and it was likely that he would stay there for a long time.

  “Let us record what we gained today on a few jade slips,” Hei Gou said, “in case we get a lot more information and forget something later, or mix it up. We really do not know how long it will take before they come back from the Soul Tower.”

  Lin Xiao nodded his head slightly. Although they were cultivators meaning they could expand their memories beyond normal and would rarely forget anything they wished to remember, they were not willing to even risk it. This was far too important.

  They had already heard an outstanding amount of gossip that day, but they did not rush back to the courtyard to record the useful information before they had finished listening to everyone.

  The rest of the people had mostly rumors and hearsay to share; their information was not very informative, nor as useful. Still, they generously gave out the pills and rushed back to the courtyard as soon as they were done.

  Like this, the days went by. Rumors about the two strangers exchanging pills for other rumors and stories quickly spread throughout the entire academy, and Hei Gou and Lin Xiao both kept trading pills as their knowledge grew. They soon stretched the information requested from being only about the Garden of Shadows to everything within the capital.

  They got rumors about the palace, about the different factions within the royal court, the strong families within the city and everything that was happening to them.

 
When they no longer had any students left who were interested in the pills that could help them break into the Ordinary Knight rank, Lin Xiao suddenly pulled out something else that made another big stir. He had pulled out some Flameward Formations.

  Flameward Formations were plain and simple for Xue Wei to create, and he had spent a long time practicing them and made plenty of them in the hope of exchanging them for resources back in Chang’an when he was using the alias of Ye Xiao.

  Unfortunately, circumstances had given him no more chances to exchange the formations and instead he’d had to flee. Now, however, was most likely the perfect time to bring them forth.

  Although formations within Yan Dalu were much more widespread than within Chang’an, they were still considered rare. It was not that they did not have the spiritual energy needed to create formations but because the teachers guarded their methods with their lives. Formation masters had always been noble people, and back before Bai Tianyi had split the continents, the majority of the formation masters and their secrets were gathered within the City of Formations. After the world was split, many formations and their knowledge were lost throughout the continents, leaving only a select few even in Yan Dalu.

  Seeing that Lin Xiao had shown a formation, everyone was once more filled with excitement and disbelief. How could these two people gather so many treasures and even gift them to others in exchange for information?

  Still, Lin Xiao was more selective about the news he gained from formations. He had many pills, but not as many formations, and thus everyone did everything in their power to find information that was worthy of being exchanged for a formation.

  These Formations were not for their own use, many wanted them to sell them to the more prominent families or the royal family within the capital, or to send it back to their own families—depending on the family’s individual power.